AD and climate change

Overview

Anaerobic digestion (AD) can play a major part in the fight against climate change. It has the ability to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 18-20% across the waste, agricultural, energy, and transport sectors. The industry is uniquely positioned to help achieve emissions reduction and mitigate many of the impacts of climate change through capturing organic wastes, producing renewable energy, and returning nutrients and organic content to the soil.

AD can help to achieve the global Paris Agreement goals and many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, notably around food supply; clean energy for power; heat and transport and waste management, and improve soil, air and water quality.

In the UK, the government is under pressure to act on its climate change policies, with the independent Committee on Climate Change highlighting the gap between the policies required to meet targets set under the Climate Change Act and the policies currently in place. With the right support, AD can help the government to meet its climate goals by reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions by 4%, the equivalent to taking all heavy goods vehicles off the UK’s roads.

Climate Change Highlights at the UK AD and World Biogas Expo 2019

Reducing carbon emmisions

Emissions from farming. Can AD be a game-changer? The Irish case.

Understanding the life cycle of food waste treatment and its carbon emissions.